I will make you bite the dust
by ViolaMoon
Summary: Fred takes the law into his own hands when George is murdered shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts and his killer walks free. AU elements. Warning: Death, torture and revenge. Mentions of sexual abuse. Mental health issues.


**This story was also written for the Ninth Round of the Seventh Season of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition: Long Live (the) Queen!**

**I'm writing as Chaser 1 for The Tutshill Tornados.**

**Chaser 1 prompt: **Another One Bites the Dust

Lyrics used: "With the brim pulled way down low", "How do you think I'm going to get along Without you when you're gone? ", "Are you happy, are you satisfied?" and of course "Another one bites the dust".

**These are the prompts I'm using as a chaser to score some extra points:**

1: (song) We will rock you

3: (Character) Fred Weasley

5: (Plot point) Disowning someone or being disowned

This fic also contains the following prompt from the Insane Prompts Challenge on the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) forum: 990: (first line) It all started with a murder.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the world J.K. Rowling has created. It's all hers, from Diagon Alley to Hogwarts to all the people living there.**

**Thanks to my fantastic team for betaing!**

**A/N: Death, torture and revenge. Mentions of sexual abuse. Mental health issues. Several AU elements – Fred survives the war and generally goes through a change in character. George is dead in this. **

* * *

**Title: I will make you bite the dust**

**Words: 3000 (according to Google Docs)**

* * *

It all started with a murder.

Fred walked down the street with the brim of his hat pulled way down low. He mustn't get recognised, or all that effort would be in vain. All was quiet but for the sound of his feet on the cold, dark road. It had taken him over a month, but he had finally found the bastard. Fred would make him pay. For George, he would make him bite the dust.

Rodolphus Lestrange. The man who murdered his brother, his best friend, his twin.

His family had gone unscathed by the Battle at Hogwarts; they had even planned a big 'We Defeated You-Know-Who' party at the shop. But then, George had stepped out for a drink at the Leaky Cauldron and never returned.

The Aurors quickly discovered who had murdered him: Rodolphus Lestrange. Fred still couldn't believe that Rodolphus had been released after the Battle of Hogwarts because they had found traces of the Imperius lingering on him, even though they knew he was a Death Eater, and now he was getting away with murder, again. Something about mishandling of the evidence—the Auror in charge had lost the record of the Reverse Spell charm performed on Lestrange's wand, that proved he was the killer.

That was the final straw. Fred would go after the man himself, he would make Lestrange bite the dust if it was the last thing he did. His family had tried to stop him, but nothing could stop him. Not now. Fred knew the risks, he could lose his family because of this but it was something he had to do.

"_Buddy, you're a young man; you're going to take on the world someday,"_ came the voice in his head, George's voice. "_Don't let him ruin your life like he did mine!"_

"What do you know? You're gone. How do you think I'm going to get along without you?" Fred hushed the voice of his deceased twin who had been with him ever since that day.

After some digging, Fred found Lestrange in a quiet village in France. He watched from the shadows and waited.

That night, he hung on the edge of his seat, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Once the lights began to flicker to life throughout the small village, as they did every night at around eleven, Fred steeled himself and advanced on Lestrange's door.

"_Muffliato_," he said, waving his wand to silence the area around the house. "_Alohomora_." Fred tapped his wand on the door handle and pushed it open, keeping an ear out for trouble.

Fred glided through the room; all those years sneaking around Hogwarts with George had improved upon his stealth skills. He heard snoring coming from a room to his right and peered through the opening in the doorway. It was Lestrange alright; he had a longer beard than Fred remembered, but it was him.

"_Petrificus totalus_," he whispered, pointing his wand through the doorway and watching as Lestrange was put in a full-body bind. This caused the man to wake up.

His eyes were full of rage even if his face couldn't move and prevented him from speaking. Fred liked that he couldn't talk; it made everything so much easier. "Remember me?" he asked. "I must look familiar, after all, you killed him. You killed my brother."

Lestrange looked at him with defiance burning in his eyes. Even in his vulnerable state, he denied it.

Fred felt a sense of power. His first thought back when he had decided to go after Lestrange, was to capture him, make him confess, get justice for George. But that look of defiance, that look of rage which told Fred that Lestrange would kill him too if he had the chance, changed something in him.

"You are coming with me." Fred pulled the frozen man's arm and Apparated, giving no thought to the man's safety. So what if Lestrange got splinched? He deserved it.

They arrived in a shack deep in the English countryside. From the outside, it looked abandoned with the windows boarded up; the inside was cramped with only a couple of chairs, a mirror and a lantern. It was all he needed. Fred pushed the man into a chair and bound him with rope before removing the body bind.

"What do you think you are doing, boy?" Lestrange sneered. "You will pay for this, just you wait."

_Empty threats,_ Fred thought. George's cheerful face pulled across his mind's eye, and he saw red. This man had taken George from him. Anger filled his body, and his fist connected with the man's face. Blood spilt downward from a broken nose and a split lip.

"You've got blood on your face," Fred sneered, his own knuckles bleeding. "You're a disgrace."

"Trust a Muggle lover to use Muggle violence." Lestrange spat, red blood staining the floor, "Your brother was pathetic. He didn't put up much of a fight, dead before he hit the pavement. All because he wanted to stop me from hurting some Mudblood girl." A cruel chuckle filled the air, and it filled Fred with blind rage.

"_Don't let him bait you, Fred,"_ George's voice whispered inside his head. "_Just get a confession and hand him over to the Aurors. You are better than this, my twin."_ Fred shook his head. He wasn't better than this. He was nothing without George. He had nothing.

"And guess what?" Lestrange continued, fuelled by Fred's response. "I showed that girl who was the real master, right next to your brother's cold, dead body."

"_Crucio_," Fred felt the word slip out from under his control. He wanted to hurt the man like he had hurt George, like that girl, like he had hurt his whole family when he took George from them.

A scream filled the room and then chuckling continued. "How did that feel? You must have put a lot of anger into that. It stung… just a little bit." Lestrange gave a savage smile.

"_Fred… stop…"_ George's voice pleaded with him.

Fred wanted Lestrange to feel the agony he had caused them. "I can do much better. You will be sorry… I will make sure of it." He pointed his wand at the man and cast the curse again. The screams fuelled him. He did it again and again until Lestrange passed out.

"_Fred… don't,"_ George's voice came again. "_You're gonna make some peace with this someday."_ George's face was there once more, eyes pleading him to stop, to be the man he used to know.

It was too late. Fred was gone. Dead like his brother. He relished in the pain he had caused. He wanted Lestrange to pay.

"_Aguamenti_." Fred jabbed his wand at Lestrange, and the man woke with a start. His expression was different, gone was the defiant man who wanted to kill Fred just like his brother. Instead, Fred saw fear. And he liked it.

"Please. I will come into the Ministry. I will confess! Just... stop, please!" Lestrange begged, but it was too late.

"_See, you can stop now. You got what you wanted, Fred!" _George urged him.

But Fred had come too far. He knew that this was just the pain talking. By the time they got into the Ministry, Lestrange would have paid his way out again. Fred couldn't allow that to happen. There was only one way forward.

"You leave me no choice," Fred sighed. "You honestly expect me to believe you?" He sent a stinging hex at the man, his hands shaking. Fred knew what he had to do, but by doing so, was he any better?

"_Avada Kedavra,"_ Fred whispered, and as the green light he had seen so many times as a member of the Order shot out the end of his wand, the room fell silent. Rodolphus Lestrange had bit the dust.

Fred felt his wand slip from his fingers, and he fell to the ground. He balled his fists and slammed them into the floor. He had done it. He had avenged George. So why didn't he feel better?

Because there were others out there just like him.

And George was still gone.

"_Are you happy? Are you satisfied?"_ George asked. "_I'm still dead."_

Fred pulled himself to his feet and looked at the mirror on the wall. A large, brown smear covered his face.

"_You got mud on your face," _George continued. "_You are a disgrace. They will put you in Azkaban for this."_

Fred shook his head; no one would stop him. The Aurors hadn't done anything about Lestrange. What would they be able to do about him?

"You don't get it. I stopped Lestrange from hurting anyone else. I got you the justice you deserve. The justice that poor girl deserves."

He stood over Lestrange's body, eyes glassy. "This is justice," he repeated, voice hollow and broken. This was right, it had to be. This rush of power that had swallowed him whole and, for a moment, filled the emptiness left behind by George had to be _right_.

He kicked at the corpse at his feet; still, it hadn't brought his brother back. Besides, there were others out there, just like Lestrange. He curled his hands into fists, sneering at the body.

The voice in his head was oddly silent and he made the connection. George had started to speak to him after he had decided to go after Lestrange. Fred could do more, he could bring justice to all the victims of the Death Eaters who still ran free and maybe he would be able to hear George once more.

"You are still dead... and I have nothing but this power. I'll stop them all."

Xx

Fred went home as if nothing had happened. He said that he was researching new products for the store. Even though he hadn't set foot in the store or his flat since his brother's death. It was too empty despite the constant stream of customers, too quiet for lack of his brother's voice.

He sat in his old room, absorbed in his own thoughts. Fred felt so powerless and lost, he thought that getting justice for George would make him feel better. It had at first, but soon that feeling of power subsided. He wanted to get that feeling back. The power, he would use to make them all pay. His taste of the Dark Arts had left him hungry for more, like it was eating away at him not to use them.

Since he had left that shack, Fred hadn't heard George's voice, and he felt lonelier than ever.

"George buddy, come back to me," he whispered over to his twin's side of the room. "I need you." Silence filled both the bedroom and his mind. He hated it. His entire life, he hadn't been alone until that day, the day he lost his best friend, his companion, his twin.

"I killed him for you, George. I'm going to find more of them and make them pay, for hurting others just like you… don't make me do it alone." He said out loud and regretted it the second he heard a bang outside his room and loud footsteps thundering away. _Maybe they had just dropped something?_ he thought to himself, _They couldn't have heard him, could they?_

That is what he assumed until he came down for dinner. There was no food at the table, there was a paper, an evening edition of the _Daily Prophet,_ and his parents sat down behind it. His mum looked sad. She did that a lot lately but more so than usual.

"Sit down, Fred," Arthur said, his tone severe and he wore no smile.

Fred sat, and it was there he saw the heading. **Lestrange Found Murdered in France**.

"Did you have something to do with this?" Arthur asked.

Fred shook his head; they wouldn't approve. They wouldn't understand; they may have lost their son, but he had lost his twin.

"DO NOT LIE TO ME, FRED WEASLEY!" Molly roared. "I heard you. You were talking to yourself in your room."

Fred hung his head, someone had heard him.

"Why, Fred?" Arthur sighed. "The Aurors found him innocent. They say it was a random attack and that the culprit is long gone by now."

Fred felt rage fill his veins, "Innocent? He admitted it! He deserved what he got. He killed George and molested a girl! How is that innocent?" His parents' belief in Lestrange's innocence fuelled the fire in him and gave him cause to believe that he had done the right thing. The Aurors could do nothing to stop the Death Eaters. He, Fred Weasley, had done what they could not.

"Even so, Fred, why not capture him and take him in? You tortured and killed a man. It doesn't matter whether he was innocent or not. He should have been tried and jailed. You don't take the law into your own hands!" Arthur raised his voice, slamming his fist on the table.

"You want to talk about justice? The Aurors can do nothing, they are being paid off or they were put under the Imperius Curse. Death Eaters are walking free, and no one is stopping them! Only I'm stopping them!" Fred rose to his feet; he couldn't stay here. His parents looked at him like he was a monster, a lot like the way he felt himself. But he could barely live with his own internal criticism. He didn't want to hear it from them too.

"You will not leave this house, Fred Weasley," his mother commanded him. "Harry and Ron are coming. You will go with them."

"No, I will not," he said, resisting the urge for that power, to hurt them like he had hurt Lestrange. He was not THAT monster. He would not hurt his own family. "I am going, Mum… Dad, don't try to stop me."

"Then you are no son of ours," Arthur said, his eyes burned with a fury much like Fred's own. "Leave and never return. We lost two sons that day." Arthur placed his hand on Molly's shoulder and pulled her away.

Fred took one last look at the people who used to be his parents, he could hear his mother's sobs as he Apparated away. They didn't understand that he needed to do this, he had nothing else to live for. Fred didn't need them anyway; he didn't need anyone.

Xxx

Time went by, and Fred started the hunt all over again. He made them pay, again and again. He became more proficient in the Dark Arts and at the same time, he found himself hungering for more. It filled the aching hole inside him, numbing the pain. Now Fred had found another likely target, a lower rank Death Eater who took pleasure in attacking Muggle families and making it seem like accidents. That is how he had avoided the Aurors for so long, but Fred had found him.

"Buddy, you're a boy," Fred sneered at the snivelling man, tied to the chair. "You thought that no one would notice all those Muggles? Did you think it was gonna make you a big man? Like your beloved Dark Lord?"

The man shook his head, "Please…"

Pleading, begging for mercy.

Fred shook his head, and said the incantation, "_Crucio_," and revelled in the scream. "Did your victims say that too? Did they plead for mercy?"

"_Fred…"_ George's voice. "_Stop this. Get help. I am begging you. You are becoming one of them."_ Fred smiled. He was happy to hear George's voice again. This was how he could hear it, by making them pay, by making them bite the dust. The words didn't matter, they were the same each time. Begging him to stop, but why should he? This was the only way to hear his voice, his single connection to his twin.

"_Avada Kedavra."_ Green light filled the room and another one bit the dust. But at that moment, it wasn't the only light filling the room.

A red light flashed around him. "_Incarcerous_," Fred heard someone say, and he was thrown to the ground, ropes binding his arms to his body. "Fred Weasley, you are under arrest for murder, torture, use of the Unforgivable Curses and obstruction of justice. You are to be sent straight to Azkaban." Harry's face came into view. He looked sad and hurt.

"I am sorry. You gave me no choice." Fred was bound by a full-body bind and taken on a one-way trip to Azkaban. Being caught in the act meant that they could forego the trial. He was guilty, there was no doubt.

Xx

"_Morning, Fred. It is another lovely day at Casa de Azkaban,"_ a cheerful voice woke him, but Fred couldn't bring himself to move. Since that day, George had returned, at least in his head, and chattered to him every day. It had been two years since he had been incarcerated and no family visited, except for George's voice inside his head.

"Leave me alone, George," he muttered, swatting into the air beside him as if George was there beside him. Another day beckoned in his dark cell in Azkaban with no one to talk to and nothing to do.

A guard looked in and was about to say something when another guard stopped him. "Oh, you're new here, right?" he asked the newbie, who nodded.

"That guy… Fred Weasley. Lost his brother and went on a killing spree, murdering Death Eaters and the like, took the law into his own hands. Completely bat crazy he is, thinks his twin brother talks to him from beyond the grave." The older guard shook his head. "Good on him I say, but… don't let the higher-ups hear you say that. He got put in his place, didn't he?"

"Yes, shame. I hope he gets some peace someday." The young guard said as they walked away, leaving Fred alone. Alone in the world.


End file.
